The polished
gentleman disappeared to give place to the bank robber. His
photograph, which was hung with those of the rest of the members
of the Reform Club, was minutely examined, and it betrayed,
feature by feature, the description of the robber which had been
provided to the police. The mysterious habits of Phileas Fogg
were recalled; his solitary ways, his sudden departure; and it
seemed clear that, in undertaking a tour round the world on the
pretext of a wager, he had had no other end in view than to elude
the detectives, and throw them off his track.

Chapter 6

In Which Fix, the Detective,Betrays a Very Natural Impatience

The circumstances under which this telegraphic despatch about
Phileas Fogg was sent were as follows:

The steamer Mongolia, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental
Company, built of iron, of two thousand eight hundred tons
burden, and five hundred horsepower, was due at eleven o'clock
A.M. on Wednesday, the 9th of October, at Suez. The Mongolia
plied regularly between Brindisi and Bombay via the Suez Canal,
and was one of the fastest steamers belonging to the company,
always making more than ten knots an hour between Brindisi and
Suez, and nine and a half between Suez and Bombay.

Two men were promenading up and down the wharves, among the crowd
of natives and strangers who were sojourning at this once
straggling village - now, thanks to the enterprise of M.
Lesseps, a fast-growing town. One was the British consul at Suez,
who, despite the prophecies of the English Government, and the
unfavorable predictions of Stephenson, was in the habit of
seeing, from his office window, English ships daily passing to
and fro on the great canal, by which the old roundabout route
from England to India by the Cape of Good Hope was cut by at
least a half. The other was a small, slight-built person, with a
nervous, intelligent face, and bright eyes peering out from under
eyebrows which he was incessantly twitching. He was just now
manifesting unmistakable signs of impatience, nervously pacing up
and down, and unable to stand still for a moment. This was Fix,
one of the detectives who had been despatched from England in
search of the bank robber. It was his task to narrowly watch
every passenger who arrived at Suez, and to follow up all who
seemed to be suspicious characters, or bore a resemblance to the
description of the criminal, which he had received two days
before from the police headquarters at London. The detective was
evidently inspired by the hope of obtaining the splendid reward
which would be the prize of success, and awaited with a feverish
impatience, easy to understand, the arrival of the steamer
Mongolia.

"So you say, consul," he asked for the twentieth time, "that this
steamer is never behind time?"

"No, Mr. Fix," replied the consul. "She was signaled yesterday at
Port Said, and the rest of the way is of no account to such a
craft. I repeat that the Mongolia has been in advance of the time
required by the company's regulations, and gained the prize
awarded for excess of speed."

"Does she come directly from Brindisi?"

"Directly from Brindisi. She takes on the Indian mails there, and
she left there Saturday at five P.M. Have patience, Mr. Fix. She
will not be late. But really, I don't see how, from the
description you have, you will be able to recognize your man,
even if he is on board the Mongolia."

"A man rather feels the presence of these fellows, consul, than
recognizes them. You must have a scent for them, and a scent is
like a sixth sense which combines hearing, seeing, and smelling.
I've arrested more than one of these gentlemen in my time, and,
if my thief is on board, I'll answer for it. He'll not slip
through my fingers."

"I hope so, Mr. Fix, for it was a heavy robbery."

"A magnificent robbery, consul. Fifty-five thousand pounds! We
don't often have such windfalls. Burglars are getting to be so
contemptible nowadays! A fellow gets hung for a handful of
shillings!"

"Mr. Fix," said the consul, "I like your way of talking, and hope
you'll succeed; but I fear you will find it far from easy.